cicatrice

For his Tourette's Syndrome (TS), his canon tics include.. only motor tics. Well.... okay. That puts us at a little bit of a roadblock. To diagnose TS, both motor and vocal tics must be present. If you're going for a realistic TS depiction, I'd say include some minor vocal tics. Of course, on the other hand, if you want to keep him closer to canon, it's alright to only include his motor tics.

What are some common simple tics?

Motor: Neck twisting/twitching/jerking, arm jerking, eye blinking repetitively/hard blink, mouth twitching, nose twitching, shoulder shrugging

Vocal: Humming, throat clearing, grunting, sniffling, snorting, whistling, gasping

On a slightly related note, Toby's tics are noted to cause joint cracking. This usually means the tics are pretty harsh. To people who can feel it, this would cause muscle stiffness, joint pain, and aches. However, while Toby also has Congenital Insensitivity to Pain + Anhidrosis (CIPA), he would still be able to feel the tightness in his neck even if it doesn't quite register as "painful" to him.

Now for the stutter. There's lots of ways a person can stutter, but the most common "stutter" in people with Tourette's is actually not a stutter at all. Tics can often disrupt the fluency of speech, which is where you get the "stutter". Common examples in Tourette's are-

Repetition: Repeating word(s) multiple times.

- "This is- This is- This is an example."

Speech blocking tic: A pause/silence in speech where the speaker is "blocked" from speaking from a tic. Usually coupled with another motor/vocal tic.

- "This is....... an.... example."

Revision: Changing a word in the middle of speaking.

- "This was- This is an example."

But you can also include a part-word repetition stutter, which is what I see most commonly in his dialogue.

Part-word repetition: Repeating a sound/syllable in a word.

- "This i-i-is an e-example."

- "Thi-this is an-an-another example."

If anyone has questions I'm more than willing to answer in comments or reblogs! <3

if you do not have tourettes syndrome or a stutter, PLEASE!!! RESEARCH!!! i beg of you! it's a little disheartening how poorly executed his dialogue is in some fics i've read. ask people with tourette's syndrome about their experience. ask people with a stutter how their speech impediment actually, realistically, affects their speech. there's lots of us and lots of us are willing to share our experiences.

people like us don't stutter with every word. we don't tic as often as you think we do, and if we ARE ticcing an extreme amount, trust me when i say it is very uncomfortable and embarrassing (and can also be painful depending on the tics).

of course everyone's experience with tourette's and/or a speech impediment is different. this isn't to say it can never be extreme. this is just to voice my annoyance as someone affected by these things daily.

AND ANOTHER THING!!!! TOBY HAS MORE THAN JUST TOURETTE'S! WRITE HIM AS A TRAUMATIZED PERSON WITH PTSD! WRITE HIM MANIC! WRITE HIM DEPRESSED! WRITE HIM AS KIND OF A DICK!